PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has sent a reminder to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for early enactment of a proposed judicial services law as the government has been delaying the issue after draft of the law was submitted to it in Nov 2018, official sources said.

An official said that a letter was sent to the KP chief secretary by the PHC registrar as a reminder to expedite the process of giving approval to the proposed KP Judicial Services Act, 2018, by the cabinet and placing the same before the assembly.

Sources said that this was the eighth reminder sent to the government as around 22 months had passed since the draft was sent to the government. They said that several meetings had also taken place between the high court and different government departments, but the issue continued to linger on.

The proposed “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Service Act, 2018” is aimed at completely separating district judiciary from executive. It also prescribes a service structure for the staff of district judiciary.

The establishment of ‘secretariat of district judiciary’ in the high court is also a part of the proposed law.

An official said that further delay on the part of government department in enacting the law would affect working of the district judiciary, including appointment and transfer of judicial officers and other relevant staff.

He said that the high court had promptly addressed all the reservations put forward by concerned departments, including law, establishment and finance, but yet the draft Act had not been placed before the cabinet for approval.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2020